Jonny Osborne

Today our regional council decided to “pause” its implementation of freshwater rules that have been more than a decade in the making. Weak tea.

Thanks to those who voted against this decision: Crs Saw, Nash, Duthie, Ropata, Connolly and Laban

Map showing the proposed Harbour Quays bus route with existing Golden Mile stops and proposed future Harbour Quays stops.

This new Harbour Quays bus route is big. Speeding up bus trips through the city makes daily life better for people, gets more bus frequency for the same cost and services more destinations. I hope the government will reconsider its decision not to help fund this very high value infrastructure.

TIL that for the first time since the 1990s, home ownership rates increased between 2018-2023 from 64.5-66%. Obviously lots of factors, but it would interesting to see an analysis of the impact of the since-repealed tax changes to discourage property speculation on that rate.

Glad to see more support for public transport fare caps today. It’s good policy that will save bus users money.

As well as cheaper travel, we need faster and more frequent buses. I support upgrades to the #2 route to get the bus moving faster and new CBD routes to prevent gridlock through town.

Mayoral hopeful faces scrutiny over conspiracy group links Ray Chung is under pressure to explain his campaign’s apparent connections to groups linked to anti-trans rhetoric, vaccine conspiracies and the 2022 Parliament occupation.

Voters deserve to know if Ray Chung is standing on behalf of Inflection Point and Resistance Kiwi - so far he’s refused to rule it out or disclose who his major donor is. I support a city that unites us, and I’m not afraid to be transparent about it www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3606...

Graphic showing bus travel times on the Newtown to Courtenay Place corridor from 2019 to 2025, showing a signs and reduction in afternoon peak travel times.

Wellington has doubled the length of bus lanes and bus priority over this council term. One result is afternoon peak travel times from Newtown to Courtenay Pl are a third faster. But the full benefits of these bus lane time savings rely on doing the Golden Mile and Harbour Quays projects ASAP. 1/

In great news, last week council approved funding to establish a public park at Mātai Moana/Mt Crawford on the Miramar Peninsula. A couple of bureaucratic hurdles still to be jumped, but we’re on our way to building on the community’s work to rid the area of pests and creating a second Zealandia!

Wellington’s ‘record’ water spend lags behind neighbours The capital is replacing fewer pipes, spending less per person and relying heavily on future councils to deliver on promises made today.

There’s more to a water network than pipes. WCC is making a significant investment in our lowest quality asset (our wastewater treatment plants) which other cities are not. Also each meter of pipe replaced provides more capacity than those in other cities www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

Wellington: LBE2025 Phone Calling We are building a future where we do more, faster, to protect our planet and make sure everyone is treated equally.

Weekly calling is on, for housing, infrastructure, people and planet this local government elections. See you this Thursday! Really good for people who don’t like door knocking 💚 www.greens.org.nz/lbe2025_wlg_...

Funny how National and Act have decried the Greens’ plan to reduce the tax burden on everyone earning less than 115k as raising taxes on “hardworking kiwis”. Tells you where their priorities lie eh?

Wellington Electricity, who runs our power lines, made $15 million in profit last year. Which means that, on top of paying for the lines in our power bills, we all gave $35 to a multinational from the Bahamas. It beggers belief that people in the 90s thought this nonsense was the smart thing to do.

Me and Grace, the best mum our kids could ever have. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there

Proud dad watching his eldest play his first game of "proper" football for the mighty Miramar Thunder. Beaut day for it too!

Idk if we do Friday follows anymore. That was the thing to do back at the bird place so gonna try it here…

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Wellington’s rental listings rise 196% in one year The number of Wellington rental properties newly available has skyrocketed in the last year and rental prices are dropping too.

The silver lining of a sluggish economy and public service cuts is falling rents in Wellington. This will be welcomed by those struggling to pay their bills, and should make Welly a more attractive option for young people thinking about their next move.

www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3606...

Just doing a spot of phone calling with supporters this evening and two told me their landlord wouldn’t let them put up a billboard. Surely landlords can’t do that, can they?

Amazing work, Geordie and Rebecca!! Another win for the Green team

If it wasn’t so serious it’d be funny how Seymour’s been going on and on about proper process etc with his regulatory standards bill, and then his deputy goes and blows up pay equity with literally no due process. I guess what’s good for the gander, isn’t necessary good for the goose?

TIL since the Wellington City Council reduced library fines three years ago, 30% more people have borrowed books. Turns out it wasn't the books that weren't coming back, it was the borrowers.

H/T @rebeccamatthews.bsky.social